For three days, the Yamen of the Xuzhou prefect held a military meeting every day, and even the prefect Yuan Xiang would come to the meeting after handling his official business to express some of his military views.

By the time the fourth report arrived, everyone in Xuzhou had completely changed their opinions, and Li Guoying undoubtedly launched a large-scale offensive, mobilizing more than 40,000 troops, of which about 10,000 were estimated to be in armor - until now the reports of the Ming army were still approximate, and most of them were officers observing the Qing army from a distance, and then making inferences based on their own old opinions, and the same was true here in Xuzhou. But Li Guoying's intention to launch such a large-scale offensive still made Xuzhou rush to confuse, and now Deng Ming's speculation is very close to Yuan Zongdi's original, that is, Li Guoying wants to vigorously replenish Zhongxian, so that Zhongxian can station more troops and play a greater role.

"However, as long as Wanxian is still in our hands, even if the Qing army builds a water camp in Zhongxian, it will not have much impact on our shipping." Yuan Zongdi was particularly concerned about the city defense of Zhongxian because he wanted to become the main force to conquer Chongqing, while Deng Ming always believed that the troops in western Sichuan would be the main force to attack Chongqing, and the troops of Wanxian County would at most play the role of a partial division, but it was not a big problem if they did not work. In that case, Li Guoying's placement of a large number of troops in Zhongxian would be equivalent to putting more troops on the secondary battlefield, not only would it cost huge resources to replenish the troops in Zhongxian, but once Chongqing was lost, the Qing army in Zhongxian would have no other way to go except surrender: "Do you think Li Guoying will use Wanxian's brains?" ”

If the north shore from Chongqing to Wanxian was controlled by the Qing army, then the ships going down the river would be fine, but the cargo ships returning to Xuzhou against the current would be a little troublesome, and there would be no safe and reliable bases for such a long distance, no supplies and intelligence. Moreover, the cargo distribution center will be moved to Fengjie, which is not only a trouble for the Ming army escort group, but also means an increase in costs for merchants.

"It's unlikely, there are 40,000 or 50,000 people in Wanxian County now." Xuzhou estimated that the scale of Li Guoying's troops and horses this time was about 40,000 or 50,000, although it still greatly underestimated the strength of the Qing army, but it had exceeded Xuzhou's original expectation of the strength of the Qing army, but even so, it was impossible to conquer Yuan Zongdi's Wanxian with 40,000 or 50,000 people, and the western Sichuan army went downstream, and it could rush to Wanxian for reinforcements in a few days, leaving not much time for the Qing army.

"Maybe Li Guoying also underestimated the strength of Yasukuni?" The more Deng Ming thought about it, the more this possibility became, the materials he brought back from Jiangnan were an astronomical amount that others could not imagine, not only Li Guoying would never imagine it, but I am afraid that the other party would not believe it even if he told him face to face, so Li Guoying may not know that Deng Ming not only has the spare strength to develop Chengdu's peasants and workers, but also can vigorously support Yuan Zongdi, the closest ally to Chengdu.

"That's good." Deng Ming's subordinates all laughed, if Li Guoying used the same force as Yuan Zongdi to attack Wanxian, he would definitely suffer a big loss: "If Li Guoying is defeated under Wanxian County, and then chased back to Chongqing by Jingguo Gong, then Chongqing will not have to fight." ”

Li Guoying is very cautious, Chongqing will not leave no troops, but whether he has the idea of fighting Wanxian or simply wants to supply Zhongxian, this kind of action will make his troops weaker. We should encourage him to take such risks. Deng Ming thought for a while, and felt that no matter from what point of view, it was difficult for Li Guoying to pose a major threat to the Ming army, so Deng Ming had no intention of interfering too much: "If our previous guess is right, that is to say, if Li Guoying wants to use some tired tactics, of course we don't need to send sailors; I don't dare to expect Li Guoying to ram Wanxian's strong defenses, but if he just wants to supplement Zhongxian, there is no need for me to disrupt our own plans in order to stop his completely harmless action. ”

After three days of discussion, Xuzhou still tends to wait and see what happens rather than immediately send a sailor, if it is placed in peacetime, maybe Deng Ming will order the sailor to reinforce without thinking, but now Deng Ming's own offensive has also entered the countdown stage, the first mobilization has begun, although in order not to affect the scale of production as much as possible than the original plan, but every day there are conscripts arriving in Xuzhou by boat. At present, Xuzhou has gathered 3,000 sailors, 2,000 standing troops, and 10,000 conscripts, and 10,000 people have been mobilized to grab the crops, and there are still seven days before the scheduled departure date, and another 10,000 people will be assembled.

In order to reduce government spending, Deng Mingyou said that the dietary standards of these people were on par with those of the soldiers, but they were not soldiers, so their names were changed to civilian soldiers instead of auxiliary soldiers. The same standard of diet, not being bullied, beaten and scolded, and there are subsidies and bonuses, which are unimaginable treatment in other Ming army or green camp troops, but Deng Ming's policy has aroused a wave of protest and dissatisfaction among the Minfu troops, who also want a series of military treatment, including copper button uniforms and assistance in blind dates.

Deng Ming, one of the leaders of the people who led the trouble, happened to know him, named Tan Xiaozhuang, a captured Guizhou soldier, a former Xiying Qin auxiliary soldier, and obtained the qualification of Chengdu Tongxiucai after paying taxes last year. During military training in Chengdu, Tan Xiaozhuang was appointed as a reserve corporal on the recommendation of the instructor because he knew how to obey and had certain leadership skills.

During this conscription, Tan Xiaozhuang was full of thought that his reserve corporal could be turned into a regular soldier, and when he found out that he was recruited as a civilian rather than a soldier, he was dissatisfied, and was finally elected by his fellow civil servants to bargain with Deng Ming.

Since ancient times, this kind of leader has been a very dangerous job, and as long as there are enough troublemakers, their demands will always be satisfied, but the leader will generally be sentenced to death - the vast number of confused people are instigated by a handful of ill-intentioned traitors to make trouble - as far as Deng Ming knows, this is the tradition of China's authoritarian rule for thousands of years. If the knife was not fast enough, the emperor and the bureaucrats might be able to temporarily compromise with the angry multitude, but they would never tolerate those who stepped forward.

The elimination of the leaders is part of the rule, the fight against the spirit of justice that is not injustice, the intimidation of the disgruntled people, and the elimination of the leading elements of the common people - Deng Ming regarded it as a low-level shaving order, if it were not for the persistent implementation of this castration policy, perhaps the Han people in the late Song and late Ming dynasties would not have had no ability to defend themselves against the iron hooves of foreign races.

Fortunately, leadership skills can be cultivated, Deng Ming looked at the list of troublemakers sent to him, and found that almost all of them were reserve non-commissioned officers: "The vision of the standing army instructors is very accurate, and those who recommend these reserve non-commissioned officers should all be commended." ”

The reason for Tan Xiaozhuang and the others is very simple, they enlisted in the army in response to the imperial court's conscription order, so they should enjoy the treatment of soldiers and should not be regarded as people's husbands.

"You have a lot of sense, it's just that I don't have that much armor and I don't have that much money." Deng Ming invited all these troublemakers to his tent, invited them to sit on the other side of his long table, and explained the government's financial difficulties very seriously: "Indeed, as you said, it is unfair that I have conscripted you for military service and not treated you as soldiers. This is my quid pro quo: I promise not to give you combat missions, and in the event of a battle, I will give priority to protecting the retreat of the people; What do you think of the fact that if a fierce battle breaks out in this expedition, and the government awards a great victory bonus to the soldiers after the war, each citizen who plays a different auxiliary role can get half of the soldiers, and those who have made particularly outstanding contributions can get the same rewards as the soldiers? ”

Through negotiations, Deng Ming and the protesters reached an agreement.

Afterwards, Deng Ming invited all the unstable elements, including Tan Xiaozhuang, to dinner to celebrate the agreement that satisfied both parties, and he learned that in addition to Tan Xiaozhuang, there were two other non-commissioned officers who led the trouble, also from Guizhou's auxiliaries. Deng Ming also heard about their experiences under Daniel Zhang, Zhao Liangdong, and Wang Jinbao, and it was this group of people who had been shouting for a long time, demanding that the coupons not apply to Daniel Zhang and the other three.

"You guys are so honest under Daniel Zhang, why did you come to me to make trouble this time?" After hearing their identities, Deng Ming finally couldn't help but ask.

"Admiral Mingjian," Tan Xiaozhuang smiled: "Before we arrived in Chengdu, three or four heads a day was not much, seven or eight heads were normal, but until the recent more than a year in the capital, I haven't knelt once." ”

"So I lifted a rock and shot myself in the foot." Deng Ming nodded, he saw that some troublemakers still seemed a little uncertain, maybe they were their own fate after the muttering turmoil subsided, Deng Ming said: "Ancestral system, the court and scholars rule the world together, this country is the country of scholars, it is your country, and I am not the enemy of scholars, things should be discussed and handled, otherwise what is it called co-governance?" ”

However, if he had to come forward to explain and negotiate every time, Deng Ming would not be busy, and with the assistance of the troublemaker, the recruited people soon knew Deng Ming's compromise plan, and under the persuasion of the leaders, the turmoil subsided.

After learning that the people's hearts were stable, Deng Ming once again ordered all the troublemakers to be summoned to his tent.

"Alright, now it's time to settle accounts after the fall." Deng Ming announced loudly, and his desk was full of handwritten orders: "Don't you troublemakers want to be soldiers? Then I'll give each of you a promotion by one level. ”

The last letter was addressed to Tan Xiaozhuang, and Deng Ming handed the order to the chief negotiator elected by the troublemaker: "You have been promoted to two levels, and you will be a reserve sergeant from today onwards, and if you are conscripted into the army next time, you will be conscripted as a sergeant." ”

"As you say, you have all been recruited as people's husbands, and you should be rewarded for asking for your life for the people, so you are all promoted; But I must warn you that the next time you may be drafted as soldiers, I will negotiate with the non-commissioned officers but never with my non-commissioned officers, and if you dare to question my orders as soldiers, I will put you all to death with your heads hanging from the camp gates. Deng Ming waved his hand: "Okay, delegates, you can leave and enjoy the cheers of your supporters, you have been here for too long, I dare say they are already worried." ”